As described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-247542, in image forming apparatuses such as an inkjet recording apparatus, images are formed on recording sheets normally by feeding (conveying) recording sheets placed in a sheet feeding tray one sheet at a time by means of a sheet feeding roller such as a pickup roller to an image forming section.
Since the sheet feeding roller needs to apply conveying force to the recording sheet as the sheet feeding roller rotatingly contacts the recording sheet, the sheet feeding roller is pressed against the recording sheet so as to generate required frictional force at the contact area of the sheet feeding roller and the recording sheet when the recording sheet is fed (conveyed).